phil took a week off for vacation in early october.  at first we thought we’d stay home and get some stuff done around the house. but where’s the fun in that?! so we nixed that idea and headed straight for my dad’s house.  where they immediately shooed us away so that the grandparents could have the grandkids all to themselves.  whatever could we possibly do with a few days away? thankfully, phil had a plan.  phil always has a plan.  🙂 the sea called. and we answered. we found ourselves in monterey where we did things like eat wonderfully grown-up food.  while it was still hot!  this coconut ice cream…

of course, there was also both of the girls’ school parties that i had to juggle and try to be present for.  it would have worked best if i could’ve split myself into two in order to be in two places at once.  but alas, that wasn’t possible and so the plan had to involve a lot of driving back and forth between the schools.  so much so that even mikey noticed how we spent the better part of the day rushing between schools. how glad i am that he is home with me because i just don’t know how i’d be able to do three at once.  and then…

and then came the big day.  this year the kids wanted to go straight to our church’s fall festival instead of doing a little trick-or-treating in our neighborhood first.  they’re not big fans of the scary decorations some of the houses have up and to tell the truth, neither am i.  and being that phil had to work late, i was all for keeping it as simple as possible. in the name of simplicity, we skipped a family theme this year (because really, nothing was going to top last year’s costume, right?) and let the kids pick out what they wanted to wear. and so without further ado, allow me…